'We're fighting a two-week fire from world's smallest fire station'

Jack Atkinson, who also helps to run a hotel, was one of the first firefighters to attend a wildfire on the North York Moors

Two weeks since a wildfire broke out on the North York Moors, firefighters remain on scene, and are likely to be there into next week.

Due to the remote location of the blaze on Langdale Moor, the first crew to attend on 11 August were from a fire station thought to be the smallest in the world.

At first glance, Goathland Volunteer Fire Station looks like a shed with red wooden doors, in a small village with limited mobile phone signal and sheep grazing opposite the driveway.

Measuring 13ft by 20ft (4m by 6m), the building only just accommodates its unique custom-built Land Rover fire engine alongside firefighters' uniforms, equipment and the system used to send them to emergencies.

But it is home to a dedicated team of volunteer firefighters, who have spent a number of days helping to extinguish and maintain the moorland blaze, which has been declared a major incident.

"It's been very hot, it's been tough, and it's been something out of the ordinary," said volunteer firefighter Sarah Little.

The fire was "pretty spectacular" when crews arrived for the first time.

That evening, they "came back, had a little bit of sleep, went back out again", she added.

Sarah Little is on-call for the fire service on days she works from home, but not when she is in the office

When not fighting fires or responding to other emergency call-outs, Ms Little, 30, works for food producer Whitby Seafoods.

She is on call for the North Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (NYFRS) during nights and on the 2-3 days each week that she works from home in the village.

"My employer's quite supportive of that."

'Juggling act'

Another volunteer firefighter, Jack Atkinson, said he was "quite lucky" to be able to be on call during most daytimes, although evenings are trickier.

He helps to run a hotel two doors down from the fire station, the Inn on the Moor.

Working on the moorland fire, however, has caused a "juggling act" between the fire service and work.

"We're quite lucky in that our crew is quite diverse so it gives us very good cover throughout the week and throughout the day," he added.

The first crew member to arrive at the station will drive the Land Rover out to create space for firefighters to change into uniform

Mr Atkinson, 37, said the Goathland crew "did what we could" upon their arrival at Langdale Moor last week, working alongside the crews which followed.

"But we've had massive support from the village, the community, and businesses in the village as well," he added.

Ms Little agreed: "It's been incredible to see everyone pull together, bringing snacks, drinks, that kind of thing, to keep us going."

On 14 August, NYFRS invited members of the public who wanted to donate items such as water or snacks to drop them off at Goathland Volunteer Fire Station.

But by 15 August, the service said: "We've had our own welfare arrangements in place throughout the incident and don't need any additional items at this time."

The day a major incident was declared, members of the public and businesses donated snacks and drinks for firefighters on scene

Chris Watson, station manager for the on-call futures project across NYFRS, said the Goathland volunteer firefighters were "real experts in the wildfire side of things".

"They're really creative with the equipment they have, which is limited on that Land Rover."

He adds that they were "marvellous at knowing the landscape, the architecture of the land".

"They know it intricately."

Whilst Goathland Fire Station is crewed by volunteer firefighters, they do receive payment for responding to emergency incidents.

However, they are not paid if their alert device does not go off while they are on call, and give up an evening every week for training.

That often takes place at the fire station, with a roll-down projector screen on one wall next to a flipchart, and a folding table which has to be stowed when nobody is at the fire station, in order for the Land Rover to fit inside.

Goathland Volunteer Fire Station is only just large enough to house the crew's custom-built Land Rover

A volunteer system is also in place at Lofthouse Fire Station, but a further 31 stations are crewed by on-call firefighters.

Similarly, they often work in primary employment, but receive payment for time they are on call, training and emergency call-outs.

In total, 70% of NYFRS stations are crewed by on-call or volunteer firefighters.

A benefit, Mr Watson says, is that firefighters are "at the heart of the community".

"Everybody in the crew lives locally and they know who they're dealing with on a day to day basis."

However, he says the service is sometimes "drawing on those resources more than we really want to do".

"We need them to rise to the challenge and they have done at Goathland. They've put in loads and loads of hours in the last week or so."

Crews still working at the scene of the Langdale Moor fire are also being supported by local farmers and contractors

At one stage, 19 fire engines from across NYFRS were at Langdale Moor, with the work made more complicated following the discovery of unexploded ordinances.

However, in an update on Thursday, NYFRS area manager Ben Illsley said five crews would remain during daytimes and three at night until Monday.

As such, frontline work was mostly being carried out by whole-time crews, rather than on-call or volunteer firefighters, he said.

However, he praised the "amazing commitment" of not only on-call firefighters, but their families and primary employers.

At the height of the fire, on-call crews travelled from as far as Bentham, 103 miles away, to the North York Moors.

"We wouldn't have a fire service without them," Mr Illsley said.

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